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80' - 2020 MEDIAWAN RIGHTS Produced by Minimal Films [email protected] RETURN TO RAQQA 0 2 SYNOPSIS

“Return to Raqqa” chronicles what was perhaps the most famous kidnapping event in history , when 19 were taken captive by the Islamic State, as told by one of its protagonists: Spanish reporter Marc Marginedas, who was also the first captive to be released.

MARC MARGINEDAS

Marc Marginedas is a who was a correspondent for El Periódico de Catalunya for two decades. His activity as a led him to cover the civil war in Algeria, the second Chechen war, the wars in and and the civil war in , among others.

On 1 September 2013, Marginedas entered Syria accompanied by a group of opposition figures from the . It was his third visit to the country as a correspondent since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. His main goal during this latest trip was to provide information on the preparations for a possible international military intervention that seemed very close. Three days later, on 4 September 2013, Marginedas was abducted near the city of Hama by ISIS jihadists.

His captivity lasted almost six months, during which he shared a cell with some twenty journalists and aid workers from various countries. Two of these were and , colleagues who unfortunately did not share his fate.

Marginedas was released in March 2014 and has not returned to Syrian territory since then. But he now feels the need to undertake this physical, cathartic journey to the house near Raqqa where he underwent the harshest experience of his life, an experience that he has practically chosen to forget over the past few years. RETURN TO RAQQA 0 3 DOCUMENTARY CONTEXT On 1 September 2013, the war correspondent for El Periódico de Catalunya, Marc Marginedas, entered Syria for the third time to report on the country’s civil war. But he immediately realised that this trip was going to be different.

A new opposition force had just emerged with a cruelty that had never been seen before: the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS), and it began to kidnap Western journalists while committing heinous crimes against the civilian population. The era of terrorism 2.0 had dawned.

Marc was first taken to a prison in where ISIS was systematically torturing and executing its opponents. He was then later placed in the hands of British jihadists whom the press had dubbed “the Beatles”, led by “”, who later became world famous for appearing in the filmed execution of four of the journalists before the horrified eyes of the international public. Suffice it to say that the beheading of the American reporter James Foley became the most watched story in recent US media history after the fall of the Twin Towers.

The months they shared together in their confinement were filled with torture, hunger and extreme suffering, but they were also able to form bonds and support each other during this time. Marginedas was finally released in March 2014 and has not returned to Syrian territory since then.

“Return to Raqqa” is the story of this awful experience, but it is also a paean to the resilience and dignity of human beings, to the consistency of one’s own beliefs and to Marc’s faith in his profession and the life decisions he had made. RETURN TO RAQQA 0 4 DOCUMENTARY PROPOSAL

“Return to Raqqa” aims to explain how Marc got through his kidnapping in 2013, but also what was happening at the same time, in other words, how people close to Marc experienced it, such as his family and colleagues at El Periódico. We also want to provide some clues about how his release came about, assuming that this last aspect should be approached with reservations, given that it is still a matter of ongoing judicial proceedings.

We are particularly interested in the emotional aspect of the experience as seen from the eyes of its protagonist. As Marc himself tells us, the strategy of his jailers was clearly aimed at breaking down the spirit of resistance of the hostages, sowing discord among them in the knowledge that this would make them weaker and more manipulable. It is a documentary about resilience.

We intend to film a twofold journey, both emotional and physical. We will embark with Marc as we travel through his memories, accompanying him in his meetings with some of the people who lived this dramatic event up close, such as his sister, the families of the executed men Foley or Sotloff, other hostages with whom he was kidnapped and has maintained a good personal relationship, such as the French photojournalist Pierre Torres, Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye and Spanish photographer Ricard García.

RETURN TO RAQQA 0 5 Finally, we want to accompany him to Raqqa (Syria) to look for the famous house where he stayed during most of the time he was kidnapped. Visiting this place again will have a cathartic power to relive his nightmare, which we will recreate through allegorical images by using short shots of dark, claustrophobic places and some of the episodes he recounts.

We will attempt to answer some of the big questions arising from his experience: How does he overcome a trauma of this nature? Why was Marc the first to be released? How did he feel when he left his kidnapping companions behind? How did he feel when he watched the execution of his close friend Steven Sotloff and the other hostages? We will also try to reunite him with some of the friends he made there to obtain first- hand knowledge about the state of the people and country after so many years of war. We will above all seek to interview a few of the jihadists currently imprisoned by the Kurdish forces that now militarily control the area.

Marc came in close contact with some of the Isis (Daesh) terrorists. An underlying theme of the documentary is a geopolitical consideration of the war in Syria, which has now been raging for 7 years and whose end seems distant, as well as the reasons for the emergence of ISIS. Why did it emerge? Who finances it? Who integrates it? Why has Daesh’s strategy of exercising and displaying indiscriminate violence been able to attract so many young people? RETURN TO RAQQA 0 6 DIRECTOR'S NOTE

Marc and I started together in journalism. We shared evenings together writing about learnings and uncertainties. We went our separate ways later in life, but I always think I was able to understand the passion with which he lived his profession.

So when I discovered that he had been kidnapped, I also knew that if he came out of that horrible experience alive, he would become even stronger and more passionate about his life choices.

Alongside exploring the emotional universe of a victim kidnapped by ISIS, this documentary will also help us to descend into the bowels of historical events that shocked world public opinion. I believe that ISIS now occupies the category of absolute evil in the collective imagination of the great majority of people, while at the same time exerting a very powerful influence on a large group of youngsters from countries where Islam is dominant, but also on those from the western world.

Its final message is a call for good journalism, which leads people like Marc to further strengthen their passion for such a threatened profession. A final quote that I love from Marc, who is now a correspondent for the newspaper in Moscow: “I’m in Russia because it is what keeps me connected to Syria,” a truly personal and geopolitical lesson that also helps us to link two such distant scenarios as snow and sand, a fascinating visual game for our documentary. RETURN TO RAQQA 0 7 TREATMENT

1. Russia, introducing main character: Marc Marginedas is walking through the snowy streets of Moscow, his boots sinking into the whiteness that spreads out along the way. He walks at a steady pace, like somebody following a daily routine. He sits down on a bench. It is minus 15 degrees Celsius. His hard, fleeting stare suggests that he is obsessively mulling over an idea in his head. His voiceover tells us why he is living in Moscow: it is the perfect place for a journalist wanting to cover current affairs in Syria. Russia’s connection to the Syrian conflict is crucial. This Middle Eastern country is where he suffered most throughout his long career as a reporter, a period of suffering that ironically gives him an even greater desire every day to return there.

In the meantime, Marc is heading off to a scheduled interview with a Russian opposition leader, where we realize that not only does he speak perfect Russian, but he also moves like a fish in water through the ins and outs of Russian politics. Now back in his office to write an article for the newspaper for which he works, El Periódico de Catalunya (Barcelona, Spain), his eyes stray from his computer screen to rest on a photo of him in the middle of the Syrian desert.

Images of the Syrian war (archival footage) flash through his memory: filthy roads, people running, military convoys, cities in ruins, ISIS flags... Marc’s voiceover tells us about his emotional connection with the Arab world (he was a correspondent in Algeria for many years and covered conflicts in the area).

2. Making decisions: As seen in a drone shot, Marc is walking alone through a field, his feet sinking into the deep snow. His voiceover explains the emotional bond that ties him to the war in Syria. He traveled there for the first time at the outbreak of the conflict in 2011 and recalls how during those initial trips the view of the war in the West was far removed from what he was seeing and recounting. But on his third trip, in 2013, he received a warning that something had changed. A new force had emerged that was employing new strategies of recruitment and terror; the Syrian conflict was becoming internationalized. Nevertheless, he decided to embark on this journey, surely the most mistaken decision of his life. We can see by the expression on his face that he has been struggling with incredibly strong contradictory feelings for five years now. Is it better to forget... or to remember?

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3. The journey begins: Marc Marginedas is sipping a hot drink in a Russian bar sitting next to a window through which snow can be seen falling. He calls his sister Cristina, who lives in Barcelona. He tells her that he has decided to return to Syria. He needs to return to the place where he experienced not only the most terrible periods of his kidnapping, but also some great moments of solidarity: Raqqa, the former capital of the Islamic State. His conversation with Cristina turns to the reasons that are making him travel there. His sister tells him that she fears something will happen to him again. “We’ve already suffered enough from your life decisions, don’t you think?” Marc insists on reassuring her. The situation is more peaceful now. Raqqa is under the control of a coalition of Kurds, moderate Arabs, Christians and Americans, surely nothing will happen, he says. “In any case, you’ll do whatever you want, as always,” Cristina admits, before ending their call. Shortly after, Marc can be seen arriving at Moscow airport dragging his suitcase behind him.

4. Initial destination: Marc is now on the Aeroflot flight looking out the window. He recalls how he traveled to Syria for the third time since the beginning of the civil conflict on September 1, 2013. During our shoot in Syria in 2019, we followed his route with subjective viewpoint shots from a car. Marc’s voiceover tells us that from the moment he entered the country, he felt that the situation had become more dangerous for foreigners. His colleagues kept warning him of the need to say nothing and be discreet on his way to Sarmada.

Back in Barcelona, Marta López, head of the international section of El Periódico de Catalunya, explains that Marginedas contacted the paper’s editorial staff on September 4, 2013 to tell them that he would be sending a report within a few hours.

A chat under the name of “Marcos” can be seen in close-up shots of a mobile phone. Similarly in Barcelona, Cristina Marginedas tells us that she stopped receiving WhatsApp messages from Marc. She suddenly realized that she wasn’t even receiving the app’s double blue tick confirmation.

Enric Hernández, chief editor of El Periódico, tells us how they experienced those initial few hours in the newsroom after hearing no word from their correspondent. Hernández recalls how doubts and questions began to arise as time passed, as well as at what moment they first considered the possibility that their journalist had been kidnapped. RETURN TO RAQQA 0 9

5. The first part of the kidnapping: In the meantime, Marc Marginedas had vanished. Over archival footage of a militia checkpoint in Syria and brief archival shots of pointed weapons, he tells us how a patrol at an outpost of the Islamic State arrested his entourage on that day in September 2013. The journalist quickly realized that this was not a routine control, nor were those holding them the same type of combatants he had met before.

By using a reenactment sequence with very quick shots of hands on the nape of a neck, a body search, blindfold, etc., Marc’s voiceover tells us how he was tied and blindfolded and put in a car that took him to Aleppo. It was there that he was placed in a makeshift ISIS prison housed in an eye hospital on the outskirts of Aleppo.

6. The prison in Aleppo: 2019. Marc’s flight lands in Boston. His face is seen in an extreme close-up in a taxi, as he continues to recount his memories.

We return to his voiceover narrative about his imprisonment in Aleppo. Over a reenactment of a single person in a dimly lit room, the sound of screaming can be heard in the background. Marc tells us that as he sat locked up alone in his cell, he soon realized that he could hear screams through the walls and isolated, often repeated gunshots. His jailers, whose faces were covered, began calling him “Barcelona” because they could not remember his name, and they also began to mistreat him. Despite their brutality and rough behavior, Marc knew that they could not hurt him. He was too important.

Over a reenactment sequence with an actor in a backlit cell. Marc is alone again in the prison. He begins to lose control and starts making rude gestures towards his cell door. One of the ways he used to escape mentally from that place was by repeating fragments of operas by Mozart and Rossini in his mind, and even such strange songs for a Syrian prison as those by Mocedades, a famous Spanish pop group from the 1970s and 1980s. Fragments of this music can be heard over shots of the space and backlit actor squatting on the floor. RETURN TO RAQQA 1 0

7. The wait in Barcelona: Enric Hernández and Marta López, the head of the daily’s international section, recall how they experienced those days in the newsroom, as they were gathering together all the information about their colleague’s whereabouts. Revealing the journalist’s situation was a double- edged sword. On the one hand, it meant letting the public know what was happening, but on the other hand, it meant providing his captors with information that could be extremely valuable and had to be carefully managed.

Through archival footage of TV news reports and press clippings, we realize the tension that those early days of the kidnapping implied in Barcelona. As Enric Hernández tells us, although his colleagues knew about Marc’s situation within 48 hours of him being captured, they had to keep the news quiet until 20 days later. This was when they realized that initial negotiations had failed and the pressure of public opinion had forced them to publish the information. Marginedas says in an interview that his situation changed after that front page by El Periódico. His jailers realized that their hostage was indeed a journalist –and not a spy, as they suspected– and they also realized that he was a citizen of a European state that negotiates with terrorists, unlike Britain or the USA.

Over photos of a young Marc, his sister Cristina Marginedas recalls in an interview in Barcelona the moment she received the news. She talks about her feeling of helplessness and the lack of information about her brother's whereabouts, as well as the anguish that her family felt during those days.

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8. Mehdi Nemmouche: Over point-of-view shots from a car traveling through Syria, intercut with shots of Marc in a taxi traveling to Rochester, New Hampshire in 2019, he tells us how he was taken in a van after more than a month in solitude in the Aleppo prison. Driving the van like a madman through the streets of Aleppo and laughing at Marginedas was a Frenchman of Algerian origin. It was Mehdi Nemmouche, a former street thief from Paris who had joined the ranks of the Islamic State in Syria at the time. Marginedas recalls how he spotted the face of his former captor on a European news item shortly after his release in May 2014. Over TV news footage of the Brussels bombing, we see how Nemmouche opens fire at the Jewish Museum in Brussels and kills four people. This act led him to become the first face of ISIS-radicalized Westerners who would ultimately attack their compatriots once back in Europe.

As the taxi stops and Marc gets out, we return to the voiceover narrative of his captivity. He was taken by Nemmouche in the van to a building under construction. It was there that they imply they were going to kill him. But the journalist was utterly surprised when he was taken to a room and his blindfold removed, for there in front of him in a fairly small space were several Western prisoners chained to each other. Some of them, such as the journalists James Foley and , had been missing for quite a few months.

9. Cellmates: Over a reenactment in a large, dimly lit room with various prisoners, Marc tells us about how his surprise when his blindfold was removed soon gave way to joy, for whatever the intentions of these ISIS militants, at least now he had company after spending a month of almost total solitude. The group comprised 18 men, including French, Americans, English and Spaniards, crammed into an area of about 20 square meters.

Over photographs of the aforementioned hostages, Marc recalls that the group included Foley, Steven Sotloff, Javier Espinosa and Ricard García Vilanova, all of whom he had met previously through covering other crises in the Arab world. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 2 10. At the Foleys: 2019. Marc is in front of the Foleys’ house in Rochester. He knocks on the door. He is still very good friends with the family. They welcome him with an embrace and invite him inside. There are many photos and memories of James Foley, the first journalist executed by ISIS, in the living room of the house. Marc tells Jim’s mother what he was like in captivity, his charisma, always helping others despite being the hostage who had to endure the most torture because of his two escape attempts and the fact that the terrorists had found a photo of him dressed as a US soldier in Afghanistan on his laptop computer. Marc tells the family how Jim always liked to talk to him about his Ecuadorian grandmother, how her memory had helped him to endure that hellish period. Foley was the first journalist to be beheaded in Syria and the video of his execution became the second most watched news story in US history after the fall of the Twin Towers. Marginedas talks about the value that these execution videos had for ISIS and how the hostages lived with the threat of death daily. He confesses that he had already assumed the fact that if the price to pay for choosing to become an international correspondent was to die at the age of 46, he was willing to do so. Finally, Marc apologizes to the Foley family for not having been able to tell them the news about his release, but the secret services had forced him to remain silent as the negotiations for the other hostages continued. Marc embraces Jim’s parents and says goodbye.

11. The kind terrorist:

We return to the dimly lit room of the hostages through the reenactment sequence. After a few days in prison, Marc’s voiceover tells us that the prisoners had established a friendly relationship with one of their captors despite their poor living conditions. He was kinder, more considerate and attentive than the others. This young jailer was named Najim Laachraoui and he had little to do with what the group of journalists and aid workers held hostage there had known until that time. Over quick reenactment shots of men in orange suits, Marginedas recalls how they had all been stripped of their clothes and dressed in orange overalls, with a number written in with which they had to identify themselves. They came to realize that ISIS wanted to organize its own private Guantanamo Bay there. Marginedas and his companions were once again taken in pick- up vans after a few weeks in the prison on the outskirts of Aleppo. They were unaware of their destination or what fate lay in store for them and it was only Laachraoui’s presence and lively jokes that managed to reassure them a little. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 3 Over images of entering Raqqa by car, Marc tells us how the convoy with the prisoners arrived at Raqqa after a few days’ journey. It would be their last abode during their kidnapping. They would see their “kind” jailer there just one last time. Over archival footage of the attacks, Marginedas recounts the shock he felt when he discovered in March 2016 that Najim Laachraoui was responsible for the attacks on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris and Brussels airport.

12. “The Beatles”: Over drone images of Raqqa, Marginedas recounts how his arrival at the Raqqa house in autumn 2013 marked a turning point. It was there that their former jailers left them under the care of three jihadists, three Englishmen with a particularly sadistic streak that the hostages soon dubbed “the Beatles”, from the English verb “to beat”. We learn of their daily humiliations by using reenactments and archival images from ISIS. The three jailers were outraged that their status had been reduced from combatants to “caretakers”, so they ended up making the six-month total that Marginedas spent in the hands of this terrorist organization the worst possible nightmare.

13. Trip to : After saying goodbye to the Foleys, Marc takes another plane to Miami. We once again see him inside the plane in a fixed close- up of his hard, melancholy expression. We fade in to his memories, in particular several images prior to the execution of Steven Sotloff, the US journalist who was the second to be executed by the leader of the gang, known as “Jihadi John”. Marc’s voiceover recalls how Steven was his best friend during his confinement. They spent weeks handcuffed to each other and shared their suffering, secrets, laughter and hopes that one day this nightmare would end.

As the plane lands in Miami, we see the video of Steven’s mother begging his captors not to execute her son. Marc gets out of the taxi in Miami, heads to the house and then hesitates before entering. The mother’s words are echoing loudly in his head. He hesitates between ringing the bell and returning to the taxi. He finally makes his decision and Steven’s mother opens the door. They hug each other and go for a walk on the beach. Marc recalls what his relationship with Steven was like during their confinement, how Steven was always able to cheer up the group despite their beatings. He recalls their long hours of conversation and how a great athlete was hidden behind his overweight appearance. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 4 He used to do some physical exercise every day by lifting a few bottles of water as weights. Immediately after, he would go to the tiny window in the room, from where he could see the Euphrates River, and breathe in some fresh air. Steven was the one who imposed a certain order and discipline within the group.

There were also moments of laughter, Marc says. Mother and friend exchange some memories, as he tells her about how he said goodbye to Steven: he promised to move heaven and earth to obtain his freedom. But he was not able to do so and still feels very guilty about it. Steven’s mother reassures him. He surely couldn’t have done very much, she tells him. The grimmest future of all the hostages awaited the British and Americans, for they knew that their governments did not negotiate with terrorists. Marc looks at her in remorse and tells her that he has decided to return to Raqqa. He needs to find the house where they were held hostage. He needs to understand how such monstrous acts could have occurred. But above all, he needs to see where the Syrian conflict stands, to understand whether the Islamic State, which has just been militarily defeated, is still present in the minds of the inhabitants of its former capital.

14. Meeting with the jihadist: 2019. Marc travels to Brussels. He has a meeting to talk to Jean- Louis Denis, a former Belgian jihadist who served five years in a Belgian prison. Denis has begun to reflect critically upon his past. Marc asks him if he knew Najim Laachraoui. How did the caliphate recruit these young people? Both talk about the extent of this new brand of global jihadist terrorism. They are pessimistic. Geopolitical tensions will continue to fuel international terrorist movements. Terrorism is also becoming globalized. Before saying goodbye, Marc asks him a question that obsesses him: did the images of the beheadings of my fellow hostages attract many young people to the ISIS cause?

Those images had a huge global impact, says the former jihadist. They became a powerful call to many young people who were eager for emotions, violence and epic motivation in their lives. ISIS would not have been able to grow as it did without the tacit acceptance of broad layers of the Sunni population and the implicit support of certain Arab countries.

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1 5 Marc continues on his journey after saying goodbye to Denis. He talks about how the hostages were divided according to their “market value.” The British and US hostages were useful as propaganda for the kidnappers, but “the rest of us were probably just a business opportunity for them,” he concludes.

15. On the way to Raqqa:

After landing in the city of Erbil, Iraq, Marc begins the long drive to Syria, passing a landscape to which he has not returned since his release. The camera is fixed on his look as he relives some fragments of his conversation with Steven’s mother. Like him, Sotloff went to Syria to report on the injustices that the al- Assad regime was committing against the population in rebel areas with the support of Russia. Marc says that the divide between Sunni and Shia radicalism was also ever-present in Iraq, but the massacre in Syria was even worse: an all-out war of everyone against everyone in which the civilian population suffered unspeakable acts, including the use of chemical weapons banned by the Geneva Convention.

Now in Syria, Marc’s car is moving slowly along the Syrian roads of Rojava, the autonomous region of the north under the control of the FDS, the coalition between the Kurdish, moderate Arab and Christian militias that has just defeated ISIS with the support of the USA. It is a landscape of oil wells, the ruins of the recent war and many military checkpoints... Marc recalls the endless trips during his kidnapping, the faces of the people on the roads. It was impossible to know how they felt about the presence of Westerners. But what one did indeed see was fear, a lot of fear, fear of the war and the regime of terror that was being imposed by ISIS.

The car stops at a secret point along the way. Marc gets out to talk to General Kino Gabriel, the top military leader of the FDS. They discuss the new situation in the northern territory after the defeat of their major enemy, the threat of withdrawal of the US troops, their highly complicated relations with the Turkish regime, which refuses to recognize the existence of an autonomous Kurdish entity like Rojava. Kino is optimistic despite it all. Things will work out. “Insha Allah,” Marc says as he bids him farewell. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 6 16. Arrival in former ISIS capital: The car finally pulls in to Raqqa. The city is still completely destroyed. Memories flood Marc’s mind. We return to the reenactment sequences: the journalist recalls the beatings to which they were subjected by their kidnappers, the humiliations, the intimidatory practices, such as using them for target practice, or the habit of making them sing a version of “Hotel California” by The Eagles with the lyrics jokingly changed, mocking them. Like high school bullies, “the Beatles” knew that they could intimidate their victims and only tools of psychological resistance could stand up to this intimation, tools that helped the hostages stay sane. But it was not always easy.

17. Looking for the house: Marc begins looking for the house where he was held hostage in the center of Raqqa. From his coordinates and shaky memories – not surprisingly he was released blindfolded five years earlier and left on an unknown road near the Turkish border– he asks street vendors and checks the coordinates on his mobile. He calls to ask his friend Ricard García Vilanova, who was also held hostage like him and has more up-to-date information. He meets Mohamed Ayash, a former bookseller in Raqqa, along the way. Ayash tells him how Raqqa was an intellectual center before the war. When ISIS arrived, the proclaimed caliphate, led by Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi, destroyed all the city’s cultural centers and burned the books. He was imprisoned and tortured several times. He hid his books and fled his home. It now stands in a minefield and he cannot return. They talk about how dictatorial regimes are always built on the destruction of culture. “Did you know there were Western hostages,” he asks the bookseller. “There were rumors, but nobody knew for sure, or where they were,” he replies as they bid farewell. Marc continues his search. The car moves through the unsafe streets, looking for the banks of the Euphrates. The house must be near.

18. The river house: Marginedas finally locates it. He gets out of the car and knocks unsuccessfully at the huge metal door that acts as an entrance. No one answers. The door gives way, so Marc enters and begins to recognize the remains of what was the “river house,” the place where he experienced the harshest moments of his kidnapping. The discovery brings on a new flood of memories. The house has been bombarded and only the floor and much rubble remain, but Marc immediately recognizes the view of the Euphrates and the swimming pool of the neighboring house that they could see from the tiny window of the bathroom where they were held hostage. The surroundings ironically look idyllic now. It was undoubtedly a very luxurious neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 7 19. Leftovers: Over reenactment images and the melody of “Hotel California,” Marc recalls in voiceover how “the Beatles” sought to undermine the morale of the group, destroy its unity and provoke tensions among its members. After a period of eating nothing more than a few dates each day, the prisoners notice that “the Beatles” have brought in a plate of leftovers of their own lunch and invite one of the hostages to eat. But the hostage can only share this extra ration with four other prisoners whom he has to choose himself. The lucky five hungrily devour the leftovers before the amused looks of their jailers and the silence of their own companions. After “the Beatles” have left, one of the prisoners recriminates the other for the greediness with which he ate and an argument erupts that leads to an uncomfortable atmosphere for several days. The leftovers have fallen like a bomb in the cell, some crumbs whose only goal was to exert pressure on an already complicated balance. Marginedas claims that even though they were all victims of the Islamic Army, they sometimes formed sides among each other depending on their countries of origin and personal affinities. Each capable of bringing out the best and worst in themselves under these circumstances.

In Madrid, another of the kidnapped Spaniards, El Mundo correspondent Javier Espinosa, recalls in an interview the deep friendship they developed during those months and how the group was divided by nationality according to the expectations and geopolitical situation of each country in the Syrian crisis. Thus, for example, every time France participated in a war action, the kidnappers made their hostages pay.

20. Tension in Barcelona: Over archival images from El Periódico de Catalunya, Marc’s sister tells us about the involvement of family and friends in the rallies that were held every fortnight in Barcelona to demand the journalist’s release. Former chief editor Enric Hernández recalls the daily tension among the newspaper’s editorial staff, while the efforts he personally made were frenetic. For her part, Cristina Marginedas recalls how the family’s hopes wavered and how she sent an increasing number of letters to the kidnappers without knowing if they reached Marc, until the deadlock began to be break after an email from the kidnappers. She also says how the Spanish secret services guided her every step. Through the use of a reenactment sequence, she personally reads the contents of some of these letters, which have to pass every control before arriving at the house in Raqqa. Once there, “the Beatles” read the letters, but of course do not deliver them. Although Marc claims that his situation would perhaps have been different without them. RETURN TO RAQQA

21. Yoga classes in prison: 1 8 Back in the small room where they were imprisoned, Marc feels how the memories of the practices they carried out in prison to survive come bubbling to the surface. Over reenactment images in the dimly lit overcrowded cell, we see the group of 19 prisoners doing a yoga session by following Steven Sotloff’s instructions. The scene, admits Marginedas, may seem strange, but this type of behavior was crucial for all of them in that situation. Marc also recalls his other companions: David Haines, the coach who could raise the group’s morale and act as a mediator even when he was most ill; , an English taxi driver who had invested his savings in an ambulance to help the Syrian people and spent months in prison with severe back problems; or , a former US soldier barely 26 years old who had left the military corps on principle and had founded a humanitarian organization. His strangest companion was Sergey Gorbunov, a Russian who had been in a mental hospital, although none of others really understood how he had ended up in Syria. Marginedas says how the memory of all these people is still very present in his mind, because all of them, Foley, Sotloff, Haines, Henning, Gorbunov and Kassig, were murdered by “the Beatles”. He recalls how the hostage group was divided. The Americans and the British knew that their governments did not pay any ransoms and therefore faced a much more complicated future. Even so, requests by their families for “proof of life” fueled everyone’s hopes of getting out of there alive until the very last moment. But unfortunately, Marc concludes, this was not the case. The French journalist Pierre Torres was also kidnapped with Marginedas and he explains how moods and tensions changed over the months and how the group split up between those who wanted to escape and those who did not. His colleague, the photographer Ricard Garcia Vilanova, was the leader of the group of those who wanted to attempt an escape: “Better to die trying than to wait locked up and be killed like rabbits,” he claimed. Marc still believes that not escaping was the right decision. Where would 19 barefoot Westerners have gone in the middle of winter, dressed in orange overalls, exhausted and escaping across a river through the middle of a city totally occupied by ISIS? The Danish photojournalist Daniel Rye was one of those who were most tortured during the kidnapping because of the publication of Muhammad’s cartoons in a Danish newspaper. He explains how his friend Jim Foley was the one who maintained the morale of the group with his jokes, despite being subjected to the greatest barbarities at the hands of the kidnappers. But he also agrees that an escape would have ended in an even greater tragedy. The mystery of John Cantlie’s whereabouts remains from all those who were in that group. RETURN TO RAQQA

1 9 22. Survival strategies: Over images of the Islamic State videos made by Cantlie, Marc wonders what happened to the only missing hostage: the British journalist John Cantlie, who entered Syria with James Foley and became one of the visible faces of a series of the propaganda videos made by the Islamic Army, in which he criticized the role of the West in the Syrian conflict. Marc recalls what Cantlie was like and tries to understand what led him to make those videos. Would he have done the same if he had remained in prison? 2019. Marc is at the river house talking to an occasional inhabitant living in a hut attached to the remains of the house. He tells him about his experiences there. The man says that he had only heard rumors about this place. Together they walk down to the river. Marc remains in a heavy, meditative silence. Before saying goodbye to each other, the man points to a luxurious house that can be seen from there. Members of Daesh, the derogatory word used by locals to refer to ISIS, lived in that house, he tells him. It all becomes clear to Marc now: it must have been the home of his kidnappers.

23. The house of “the Beatles”: Marc heads across to the neighboring mansion. It has a striking interior, a luxurious marble house with magnificent views. The remains of some graffiti by the jihadists can still be found inside. The former owners are now living there. They tell Marc that the house was expropriated by several ISIS leaders. His memory is fired up again. Over reenactment images, Marc explains in voiceover how “the Beatles” occasionally appeared in the cell where the prisoners were crowded together to brutalize them with some sadistic acts. The beatings and tortures appeared randomly and for the oddest of reasons. In Madrid, Javier Espinosa tells us that one day his captors asked him if it was true that in Spain there was a ceremony called “Moors and Christians,” a traditional local festival commemorating medieval struggles. This was enough to earn the Spanish journalist another beating.

Although many of the hostages converted to Islam in an effort to alleviate their situation, Marc returned to his Catholic faith. Prayers helped him through the most desperate times. Over time, the terrorists asked him for increasingly proofs of life. The leader told him that he respected his sister for her piety.

In Barcelona, his sister Cristina tells us how contact with the terrorists became increasingly more intense. One day, the Spanish negotiators told her that they were optimistic, but these were nerve-racking months.

The family was receiving information in dribs and drabs. A Spanish national intelligence agent pretended to be Marc’s sister to continue the negotiations in person in Istanbul. RETURN TO RAQQA

2 0 24. Freedom: 2019. Marc walks away from the ruins of the river house. The screams still resound among the rubble. He recalls the day he was told that he was going to be released. It was a strange situation: how could he be sure they were not going to execute him after so many death threats and false information? Despite his skepticism, the kidnappers began to improve the way they treated him. Finally, one day at the end of February, the kidnappers came to him and confirmed the news that he was going to be released. All the other hostages gave him letters for their relatives. Jihadi John brought Foley close to him and said: “Touch him, Foley. Touch Marc, because it’s the closest you’ll ever come to freedom.” A phrase that Marc will never forget. The ambivalent feeling of having been the first to be released will haunt Marc for the rest of his life: on the one hand, happiness, but on the other hand, guilt for abandoning his companions. What’s more, he says, the jihadists confiscated the letters written by the British and US hostages at the time of his release, most likely a sign that their fate had already been sealed.

Marc Marginedas explains how he was put into a pick-up driven by his jailers. He says all this to us while reproducing the same acts in the present tense. The car heads towards the Turkish border.

He was left in the middle of nowhere, malnourished and half naked, at the end of February 2014. He was scared that he might be kidnapped again. The traffickers who had to help him illegally cross the Turkish border abandoned him because there was a danger of being shot at. Marc tells us all this in voiceover while he walks to the very same border, which is now sealed tight. Finally, an anonymous shepherd gave him shelter for a few days and helped him cross the Turkish border through a hole. Marc’s gratitude to this man will be everlasting.

25. Arrival in Barcelona: Having reached , Marc was able to call a number he had been given. He realized that his nightmare was finally over when he saw a Spanish officer. We see how the news is plastered across all media on the front pages of newspapers at the time: Marc had been the first hostage to be released by the most cold-blooded, seductive terrorist group on the international scene. His testimony would undoubtedly be worth a fortune.

An air force plane carrying Marc landed in Barcelona on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at 7.20pm. RETURN TO RAQQA

2 1 Over archival images, we see how the journalist’s family rushes towards the plane. A very emaciated Marc walks down the steps and embraces his family and his two bosses, Marta and Enric, who have worked so hard for his freedom.

We see Marc and his loved ones in Barcelona on a shuttle bus and walking through airport lounges. Marc apologizes to them for all the suffering they have endured. He has returned home.

But he only had a few days to rest, for he was the main witness of the most media-covered kidnapping in history. He held vital information for the secret services, so they bombarded him with questions about every possible detail. They insisted on the need for him to remain silent as long as there were other hostages. Marc realizes at that moment that he will not be able to keep the promise he had given to his companion Steven Sotloff. This feeling will haunt him forever.

Javier Espinosa explains how a few days after Marc’s release, the captors were furious with them because they said he had spoken to the press: “We knew that it wasn’t true, but it left us all feeling shattered,” he claims.

A few months later, world public opinion looked on in amazement at the scheduled execution of five of his comrades. The worst omens had been inexorably fulfilled. Those images traveled across the globe to usher in a new form of global terror, carefully directed and using a visual language inspired by action films that would attract thousands of young people into the ranks of ISIS. Marc wonders about this phenomenon: what has changed so that horror has become so fascinating for many of these young Westerners? The effect on public opinion was immediate: the US would go to war with ISIS. It would join the coalition led by the Kurds. In January 2016, Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John,” the most bloodthirsty of the kidnappers, was killed by some targeted bombing in Raqqa. In March 2019, five years after the kidnapping, ISIS would be militarily defeated in Baghouz, Syria. It leaves behind a trail of corpses, violence and brutality never before seen in Arab countries, as well as a sophisticated propaganda machine in which Marc and his comrades were most likely simple pawns, the Spanish reporter tells us, over images of “the Beatles” uncovered faces and the military defeat of ISIS.

RETURN TO RAQQA

2 2 26. Journalism or life: Marc is once again walking through the snow-covered streets of Moscow, as his voiceover reflects about his profession, an occupation he has been practicing for 30 years and may have cost him his life on more than one occasion. He left friends behind in Syria, some of whom will never return, as well as experiences he will never want to repeat again, but he has never doubted his vocation and the importance of his work. Marginedas talks about what it means to be a reporter in a conflict zone. After all that has happened, he does not know what his future holds, but he is very determined that nothing, not even six months in the hands of ISIS, will stop him from exercising his life choices. That, he claims, is his most personal victory over tyrants. RETURN TO RAQQA 2 3 CONFIRMED INTERVIEWS

ENRIC HERNÁNDEZ: Former director of El Periódico. He was very active during the negotiation process of Marc’ s kidnapping in order to secure the journalist’s release.

MARTA LÓPEZ: Head of the international section of El Periódico. She was very active during the negotiation process of Marc’s kidnapping in order to secure the journalist’s release

CRISTINA MARGINEDAS: Marc's sister. She received the first email sent by the “ Beatles” announcing Marc’ s kidnapping and played a very active role in the media in order to secure the release of her brother.

KINO GABRIEL: Spokesperson for the Syria Democratic Forces and General Command of Syriac Military Council. We interviewed him during our trip to Syria.

KHALIL MAHMUD: Syrian shopkeeper who reopened his book/stationery shop a few weeks ago. We interviewed him during our trip in May and he told us how difficult life was in Raqqa under ISIS control. RETURN TO RAQQA 2 4

JAMES FOLEY’S FAMILY: James was an American war journalist kidnapped by ISIS for almost two years. He was the first person to be beheaded by a member of the “Beatles”, the name given to the four British citizens. The images of his have been the most seen in the USA since the fall of the Twin Towers.

DANIEL RYE: Danish photojournalist kidnapped by ISIS for almost a year. He shared a cell with Marc and other colleagues for several months. He was the last hostage released and one of those subject to the most torture by the “Beatles”, given that ISIS never forgave him for the cartoons with the image of Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper.

PIERRE TORRES : French photojournalist kidnapped by ISIS in mid 2013 who spent several months with Marc. He was released in the spring of 2014.

JAVIER ESPINOSA: Journalist for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo who was kidnapped in 2013 by ISIS. After passing through several prisons, he was taken to the house in Raqqa. Javier and Marc formed a close bond during their captivity. He was released a few weeks after Marc. He is currently a correspondent for El Mundo in Asia.

SHIRLEY GOLDIE (Steven’s mother): Steven was an American-Israeli journalist kidnapped by ISIS in 2013. He was the second person beheaded by his captors and was Marc’s best friend during their captivity. His mother played a very important role in the attempts to secure his release.The Sotloff family is very interested in participating in the project and we are in contact with them to confirm their participation.

LOOKING FOR We are taking steps to interview one of the people who directly participated in Marc’s kidnapping, as well as another jihadist, so that we can understand the context that led them to carry out these kidnappings. RETURN TO RAQQA 2 5 ALBERT SOLE´ THE DIRECTOR

A journalist by training, he began as a reporter for some of the most important Spanish media covering social issues and also several international crises, from the fall of communist regimes to the war in the Balkans. He made the leap to directing documentary films in 2002. He has directed and produced works for almost all the major FEATURED FILMOGRAPHY channels in Spain, as well as foreign channels such as Netflix, Movistar 0, TVE, TV3, Arte, Avro, Cuatro, etc. He has Examen de conciencia also produced corporate communication works for major (Netflix, 2018) companies and institutions. His work has received more Miró, l’assassí de la pintura than 50 awards and prizes throughout the world, including (ARTE, 2018) 3 film academy awards (Goya, Gaudí). Jarabe contra el cáncer (2017) Los recuerdos de hielo (2013) Al Final de la Escapada (2011) Bucarest, la memòria perduda (2008) El sueño del agua (2006) La mente del violador (2006) En la cárcel, confidencial (2005) Històries d’aigua (2002)